Political Science writing
sam1992
ps3.pdf
I have lived in Yamhill or Polk county most of my life which are very similar in many ways. Since I
currently live in Polk County, it will be the focus of this paper. According to the US Census Bureau in
2011 Polk County had a population of 75,993 and covered 745 square miles. Traveling back roads in
Polk County will reveal many attractions from covered bridges, parks, vineyards, wineries, WOU, the
Brunk House, Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge (which has a great hiking trail), Spirit Mountain Casino, and
beautiful landscapes. Polk County receives approximately 50 inches of rainfall a year which is important
to its agricultural and forest products production. Approximately 28.1% of the population holds a
er which is nearly the same as the statewide average (quickfacts.census.gov).
These degrees are used in a vast array of jobs ranging from dairy products, Christmas trees, wheat,
broilers, and tall fescue which are the top five commodities in Polk County (qualityinfo.org).
There is more than one ideological label you could assign to Polk County, but I believe the best one is,
te.com, traditional conservatives
believe they stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. They revere God, national
-‐restrained capitalism. They
believe the family is the natural and basic social entity and must be based in marriage between one man
and one woman and committed to bringing new life into the world. They believe in strong free-‐market
economic policies, strong defense and strong social values. These are the beliefs the Republican Party
typically espouse; therefore, if you look at whom Polk County Residents have voted for in Presidential
and Gubernatorial elections, it will illustrate a conservative ideology.
President & Governor Elections -‐ Yellow Highlight Shows Winner Year Dem -‐ Polk Rep -‐ Polk Dem -‐ Oregon Rep -‐ Oregon President -‐ 1996 Clinton -‐ 10,942 Dole -‐ 11,478 649,641 538,152 President -‐ 2000 Gore -‐ 11,921 Bush -‐ 14,988 720,342 713,577 President -‐ 2004 Kerry -‐ 15,484 Bush -‐ 19,508 943,163 866,831 President -‐ 2008 Obama -‐ 17,536 McCain -‐ 17,714 1,037,291 738,475 President -‐ 2012 Obama 15,761 Romney 17,377 910,586 717,409
Governor -‐ 1998 Kitzhaber -‐ 13,173 Sizemore -‐ 6,583 717,061 334,001 Governor -‐ 2002 Kulongoski -‐ 10,956 Mannix -‐ 13,128 618,004 581,785 Governor -‐ 2006 Kulongoski -‐ 12,620 Saxton -‐ 12,643 699,786 589,748 Governor -‐ 2010 Kitzhaber -‐ 12,899 Dudley -‐ 15,966 716,525 694,287 Registered -‐ 2010 14,951 16,604 863,322 664,123
Data obtained from Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division
The table clearly demonstrates a Republican lean in Polk County. Statewide, Democrats comprise
nearly 57% of the registered voters compared to 43% Republicans if you exclude the other parties.
Statewide, Oregon has voted for a Democrat 100% of the time in the last 5 Presidential elections and
last 4 Gubernatorial elections. It has been just the opposite in Polk County. Only 1 time since 1996 has
Polk County elected a Democrat. Nearly 53% of registered voters are Republican compared to 47%
Democrat while excluding the other parties. This reflects the traditional conservative point of view that
Republicans stand for. Also, if you refer to the Comparative Voter Participation from Oregonvotes.org,
you will see with the exception of 2008, the Republican voter turnout has been greater than Democratic
turnout in every election since 1966. Conservatives are more politically active than liberals as this is
who have worked hard before you to pass on their traditions.
President Obama in 2008, when excluding the other candidates, garnered 58% of the vote whereas in
2012 he only received 56% of the vote. In Polk County, Obama received 50% of the vote in 2008 and
only 47% in 2012. Both percentages are lower for President Obama with a significant decline if voter
turnout. I could write a whole essay on why, but I will just list a few: 7.9% national unemployment, 16
trillion in national debt, median middle class household incomes have dropped $4,000 over the past four
years, an additional 15 million people on food stamps in the last four years, the number of people on
disability has risen dramatically, numerous states suing the federal government for multiple reasons,
health care costs have continued to rise dramatically over the past four years, intrusive regulations in to
private business, gas prices have doubled in the past four years, house prices have plummeted, I could
keep going but my paper would be too long. In short, the economy is a disaster and GDP is worse now
than it was two years ago. It is the worst recovery coming out of recession the country has ever seen.
Obama won due to the minority vote in this country and the fact half of the country is on public
would not vote for a well-‐
Gallup is a well respected polling agency so this has to be close to accurate.
There is also statistical data we can reference to further illustrate Polk Counties traditional conservative
electorate. First, in terms of a percent, 91.1% of people in Polk County are white compared to 88.6%
statewide (quickfacts.census.gov). According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies,
approximately 63% of African Americans identify themselves as Democrat compared to only 10%
Republican. According to the National Asian American Political Survey, 36% of Asian Americans identify
themselves as liberal compared to only 22% as conservative. The Pew Research Center reports in the
2004 Political Landscape that while Democrats outnumbered Republicans among Hispanics by more
than two to one in the 1990s, after 9/11 Democrats led by a smaller margin 36% to 22%
(libraryindex.com)
county is going to be. Since Polk County is 2.5% more white than the state average, it is going to skew
the vote more Republican.
Second, traditional conservatives believe in the family and the value of home ownership. Compared to
the state average, over 5% more people own a home in Polk County and the family size is 5% larger
(quickfacts.census.gov). This represents traditional values and the American dream. Two people, a man
and a woman, get married, buy a house, and start raising kids in a rural, agricultural environment. It
Third, the median household income is $50,975 in Polk County compared to $49,260 statewide with
only 12.9% of people living below the poverty level compared to 14% statewide (quickfacts.census.gov).
Take a look at the chart below from the Pew Research Center. This chart clearly illustrates higher
Income families are much more likely to be Republican compared to poor families; thus, if the median
income is higher in Polk County than the state average, the trend is going to be Republican which is what
the voting data shows. Therefore, when looking at the three distinct statistical characteristics of: race,
home ownership, and income you can clearly see a traditional conservative/Republican demographic.
This data also points to a more successful county in terms of employment. Compared to its neighboring
Marion County, Polk Counties unemployment rate was 1.5% less and nearly 1% less than the statewide
average in Sep. of 2011 (qualityinfo.org). Polk County also boasts nearly a 3% better percent health
insurance coverage rate compared to the state average (qualityinfo.org). In fact, Polk County ranks 3rd
. To summarize, Polk County has more
Republicans than Democrats compare to the state average and votes Republican in Presidential and
Gubernatorial elections. Compared to the state, is has higher income, less unemployment, and more
people with health insurance coverage which are three very important benchmarks of success.
County is to see
how they buck the voting trend of the rest of the state on ballot measures. Two examples of this are
Ballot Measures 58 and 61 both from the 2008 election. Ballot Measure 58 prohibited teaching public
school students in a language other than English for more than two years. The statewide vote was
756,903 Yes to 977,696 No votes. In other words, the state did not want to put any limits on how
compared to 16,753 No votes (oregonvotes.org). Traditionalists believe in English as the primary
immigrant as well as the tax payer. If I would to go live in Japan, I would expect myself to learn Japanese
so I could communicate and be a productive member of society. The same holds true of immigrants
coming to the U.S. If you want to assimilate, then you need to learn English and that is what Polk
County stated with their vote.
Ballot Measure 61 created mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain theft, identity theft,
forgery, drug, and burglary crimes. Oregon voted this down by nearly 40,000 votes, but not Polk
Yes vote of 55% to 45% (oregonvotes.org). The conservative people of Polk
County stated clearly they want people to pay for their crime. If you do the crime, then you need to pay
the time. Polk County residents knew this would be costly proposition and most likely would hit them in
the pocket book. It did not matter to them because they put their values ahead of their finances. That
is what traditional conservatives do and that is why Polk County voted conservative since it is a
Republican stronghold.
That final piece of data we will analyze demonstrates itional conservative ideology in
who voters elect for their legislators. Brian Boquist representing District 12 won his election handily and
so did Jim Thompson who represents District 23. According to the Secretary of State Election Divisions,
both of these candidates far outraised and outspent their opponents. See table below:
2012 Contributions Expenditures Brian Boquist (Rep) -‐ Won $148,342 $160,146 Annette Frank (Dem) -‐ Lost $5,078 $4,896 Jim Thompson (Rep) -‐ Won $88,485 $79,582
Ross Swartzendruber (Dem) -‐ Lost $3,385 $3,149
Brian received money from many different types of organizations, but the top donor was Loren
E. Parks who is a private citizen.
Oregon Republican Party also donated a large sum of money. Much of the m
and other contributions were from the business community such as Stimson Lumber, real estate
agencies, restaurants, etc. Almost all the money Annette Frank received was from Partisan
Polk County Democratic Central
Committee, and Yamhill County Democratic Committee. There was only one business donation
and that was form Oregon Stationers. A few individual donations were given including the
candidate who donated to herself.
The donations for the race between Thompson and Swartzenruber look very much the same as
the Boquist vs. Frank race except Loren E. Parks did not make a large donation. A lot of money
came from Thompson Public Affairs, Oregon Victory Political Action Committee, and the
Promote Oregon Leadership PAC. Only one individual donation of more than $5,000 was made
by and that was by Doug Riggs. Swartzenruber received money from Future Pac House Builders
(probably knew someone), Oregon Secretary of State, the OEA, Unions, and other Partisan
PACs. In general, all candidates receive money from partisan PACs;; however, small businesses
donated a lot more money to Republicans whereas government agencies and unions donated to
the Democratic Party candidates. In both races, the Republican raised much more money and
easily won the election. It is hard to know if the money raised has much to do with the outcome
since correlation is not causation. It could be nobody believe the Democrats had a chance of
winning in the first place so nobody would give them money. People do not want to throw
money at something or someone that has no chance of winning;; therefore, generally donations
go with the winning side unless internal polling was very close to begin with.
I opened my analysis with a quote of what Harry Beadle defined as the traditional conservative
ideology being that of a people that are: church going, have family values, believe in self-
restrained capitalism, traditional marriage, free-market economics, strong defense and strong
social values. These are the beliefs the Republican Party generally endorse and this is why Polk
Country consistently elects Republicans. Its traditional conservative values have been handed
down from previous generations and the people of Polk Country and trying to preserve this
tradition through the voting process. This is clearly illustrated in the elections of the past several
decades.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
4 Apr. 2011. http://www.redstate.com/harrybeadle/2011/04/18/traditional-‐conservative-‐beliefs/ Oregon Blue Book. 2012. http://bluebook.state.or.us/local/counties/counties.htm (Accessed November 6th 2012).
Oregon Labor Market Information System. Worksorce Qualityinfo.org. (2012). http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/Regions?area=000003&page=2 (Accessed November 6th, 2012).
Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division. 2012. http://oregonvotes.org/pages/history/stats/index.html (Accessed November 5th 2012).
Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division. 2012. https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/GotoSearchByName.do (Accessed November 7th 2012).
-‐press.org. 2009. 5 May 2009. http://www.people-‐press.org/2009/05/21/section-‐1-‐party-‐affiliation-‐and-‐ composition/
-‐ http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2936/Political-‐Participation-‐HISPANIC-‐POLITICAL-‐ PARTICIPATION.html (Accessed November 5th, 2012)
U.S. Department of Commerce. United States Census Bureau. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/41000.html (Accessed November 6th, 2012).
2012.http://www.gallup.com/poll/155273/Bias-‐Against-‐Mormon-‐Presidential-‐Candidate-‐ 1967.aspx
